Palace dares Marcos to show cheating proof

Malacañang challenged Senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos, Jr. on Sunday to show solid evidence of election fraud instead of launching baseless accusations against the government of cheating the polls.

“Such allegations are totally false and baseless. Instead of innuendos, let the accuser present concrete proof in the proper forum,” said Herminio Coloma, Jr., secretary of the Presidential Communications Operations.

The outgoing senator has earlier announced his intention to file an election protest against Camarines Sur Rep. Maria Leonor “Leni” Robredo – who was able to defeat Marcos in a close vice presidential race by about 263,000 votes.

Marcos’ camp has blamed outgoing President Benigno Aquino II and the Liberal Party (LP) of robbing him around three million votes in the May 9 election.

The defeated vice presidential candidate recalled Aquino’s comments in the early days of the election campaign about ensuring his loss in the election.

However, Coloma clarified that Aquino has never endorsed election fraud as a means of defeating Marcos in the vice presidential poll.

“What the President said during the campaign period (especially during the EDSA commemoration) was that the people need to close ranks to prevent the return of dictatorship in our land,” Coloma explained.

Marcos has claimed of having evidence of the Aquino administration and the LP conspiring to switch ballots, feed batches and buy votes to ensure Robredo’s win.